Drink Up: Water Does a Body Good

The dairy industry has commercials saying that milk will do your body good. But it’s water that really satisfies. It makes up 60 to 70 percent of your body weight and helps flush toxins from your organs and carries nutrients to your cells. Water helps regulate your body temperature and protects your joints and organs.


You’ve probably already know that you should drink at least 64 ounces of water every day, but some researchers suggest drinking even more water daily. The Mayo Clinic recommends that you take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half to determine the right amount of water to drink every day. So if you weigh 160 pounds, try do drink 80 ounces of water a day.


But other conditions call for drinking even more water. Exercise drains your body of water. Mayo recommends drinking at least an additional eight ounces of water for every 20 minutes of activity. When you’re drinking alcohol, drink a glass of water between each drink to offset the diuretic effects of liquor, or substitute sparkling water for alcohol.




The Mayo Clinic even recommends drinking eight ounces of water for each hour you’re flying on an airplane, and drinking an additional 16 ounces of water if you live in an arid climate like Las Vegas.


Keep in mind that a portion of your body’s water intake comes from the foods you eat, especially fruits and vegetables. But the rest of day, you need to find time to add water to your diet. Try to drink a glass of water with each meal and in between each meal.



But the good news is that all of this water may even help you lose weight. Researchers in Germany found that water consumption can increase your metabolism.

WebMD reports that a study with seven men and seven women found that after drinking 17 ounces of water, the subjects’ metabolic rate increased by 30 percent. The increases occurred within 10 minutes of water consumption and reached a maximum after about 30 to 40 minutes.




The researchers from Berlin's Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Center estimated that over the course of a year, a person who increases his water consumption by 1.5 liters a day would burn an extra 17,400 calories and lose about five pounds.


So water indeed does a body good.